Covering all the bases with whatever's bouncing around in my head today!

Results tagged ‘ Tom Hutton ’

Another slow day baseball-wise, so I’m continuing my fond (or not-so-fond, whichever the case may be) look back in time. I’ve decided to combine 1974 and 1975 into one entry, to speed things along.

By 1974, the price of the Phillies magazine/program had gone up by a whole dime, from 50 cents to 60 cents. Instead of the fun pop-art cover of 1973, we now have something that looks like it could have been created by the semi-talented child of a member of the Phillies’ front office:

Another change from 1973 is the appearance of an advertisement on the front of the magazine. Really, they couldn’t have squeezed this one inside somewhere? I hope the team squeezed mega-bucks out of Gino’s for such prime placement.

Ticket prices for the field boxes have also gone up slightly from 1973, though the terrace and loge boxes actually went down in price. Other seating options remained the same:

Gone is the Phillies Family Album with its delightfully corny photos. Darn! But looking at the player photos is still fun. Mike Schmidt has now decided to grow the mustache that we all are so familiar with:

Judging by this picture, no one told Jim Lonborg it was photo day. He looks like he has a very bad case of bed-head:

According to the accompanying text, Lonborg suffered one of those classic freak injuries, breaking his toe by stubbing it against a hotel bed in Pittsburgh. A good attorney should be able to find a lawsuit in there somewhere.🙂

The ’74 Phillies were an improvement over the previous season – they finished in third place in the NL East with a 80-82 record. Four of the five primary starters remained the same from 1973, the only change being Ron Schueler in place of Ken Brett. Seven of the eight position players also remained unchanged, with Dave Cash taking over second base from Denny Doyle.

Things continued to look up in 1975. The Phillies would go 86-76 to finish second in the division. Ticket prices remained unchanged, as well as the price of the magazine/program, which was graced by improved artwork:

The cover still contains advertising, this time for the brand-spankin’ new AMC Pacer, everyone’s favorite “fishbowl” car. Lauded at the time as a “car of the future,” it is, in my opinion, one of the ugliest vehicles ever.

1975 saw the arrival of some new faces, such as outfielders Garry Maddox and Jay Johnstone, catcher Johnny Oates, and relief pitcher Tug McGraw. Dick Allen returned to the Phils after a five-year hiatus with several other teams.

1975 also saw the arrival of the regrettable man-perm to the Phillies. This look was sported by not one, not two, but three members of the squad:

I wonder if they ever look back upon this, and think to themselves, “What was I thinking?”

Bad hairdos aside, things would continue to improve for the Phillies, who would win the NL East the next three seasons (1976-1978). Due to unknown reasons, there were no programs from 1976 or 1977 in my husband’s trove of stuff. So next time I’ll jump ahead to 1978.

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